Cultural Property in Crossfire and International Responses Through the Example of Mali

Abstract

The aim of the present essay is to prove by the example of the Mali conflict, especially by the events between January 2012 and September 2016 in Timbuktu  that today’s armed conflicts and terrorism mean a greater danger than ever  before to our cultural heritage, therefore a complex international cooperation is  needed to to prevent it. The destruction of 14 mausoleums of Timbuktu - almost  all of them is part of the UNESCO World Heritage list - can be linked to Ansar  Dine and AQIM. The verdict of in the case of Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi condemned  for the events by the International Criminal Court is  groundbreaking both in the history of ICC and in the international action during  armed conflicts and it can serve as a precedent in the future.